A pound of ice per person and other entertaining algorithms from an experienced caterer.
“Help! I don’t want to serve too little but I don’t want to spend too much,” wrote a college chum, Priscilla. Widowed six months earlier, after her husband’s long illness, she’s giving her first party in years—cocktails for 20, old and new friends, singles and couples.
Handmade chocolate bonbons are fresh, delicate, and a revelation to the palate.
Mama Gump, the mother of Forrest Gump, was fond of telling her son, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Mama Gump was probably talking about a Whitman Sampler, but these days an increasing number of artisans are making high grade candy using the finest chocolate as a base, selling them in their own shops, and also marketing them to food emporiums and specialty stores.
When major appliances break down, minor miracles occur.
I dream about a half-acre kitchen—what New York City cook doesn’t? Mine would include a brick-lined fireplace with bread-baking shelf, a salad-spinner the size of a trash bin, and a sunny windowsill on which to grow lavender and mint.
I’m an obsessive baker, in and out of the oven more often than the witch in Hansel and Gretel, but my dream kitchen might have no oven at all.
A new version of rice pudding and other delicious puddings are selling out on 102 St. Mark’s Place.
When Puddin’ opened on St Mark’s Place earlier this year, 20-something chef Clio Goodman said she was offering a “grown-up” version of the dessert that’s often a baby’s first. Born into a family of serious cooks and then seasoned as a dessert chef in some of New York City’s finest restaurant kitchens, Clio cooks with a kid’s energy and a wise woman’s know-how: Her vanilla pudding, for delicious instance, could pass muster anywhere as a crème anglaise.
As a pastry chef I found happiness by dishing it up—until the divorce cake.
“Ours is the only profession that exists just to make people happy.” How many times did I hear those words during my midlife adventure at the French Culinary Institute? Almost as often as I heard, “More butter, more salt.”
With a prudent will there’s a whey to turn leftovers into a gourmet meal.
The Secret Life of Yogurt
Recipes for a dinner that’s red on the plate, warm in the heart, delicioso on the palate.
The red zone is where you want to be on Valentine’s Day, especially since the Giants are numero uno once again. Offer your love a vibrant dinner of reds and both of you will glow.
Using veal, pork, turkey, or pheasant, you can wow your guests with an easy-to-make appetizer!
Nancy Weber’s Pâté. Photographs by Sheila Phalon
Offer a festively garnished pâté as a starter at a holiday party, and you’ll be a kitchen goddess—“You made that?”—although it’s as easy as a meatloaf. I’ve made one every November for about the last thirty years, and many in between, as cocktail party fare at home and for catering clients.
Beyond the ego gratification, it’s practical for the fete: zesty without being heavy, best made a couple of days ahead, highly portable, and ideally eaten at room temperature—meaning you don’t need to wangle precious oven space.
Satisfying your craving now that summer is over.
After Lord Byron ended his brief affair with Caroline Lamb, he wrote to Lady Elizabeth Melbourne, Caroline’s mother-in-law (and perhaps also his lover), that “a woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster sallad & Champaigne, the only true feminine & becoming viands.”
This time of year, one basketful of produce offers many options. Shop first, then make up your menu.
Like everyone else in the world, I think I make the best gazpacho. But I’d rather take the essential components—juicy, ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, olive oil, toasted bread—and turn them into a panzanella, the sublime Italian salad.
Soup or salad? For me, it’s all about the implements: Forks are sophisticated and assertive, spoons are passive, vague, and splatter-prone.
